Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller - 1 Year Review
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
- Your biggest questions answered about the Rachio 3 Sprinkler Controller
Check Current Price: Rachio 3 Controller geni.us/gjllJrQ
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This is a follow-up review video about the Rachio 3 now that we've owned it for a year. I'll tell you whether or not we are still happy with it, and answer the most common questions we received from the previous video.
This is NOT a sponsored video. Some product links are affiliate links, including Amazon Affiliate links, which means if you buy something, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
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⏰ Chapter Timecodes ⏰
0:00 Would We Buy it Again?
1:40 Will This Work Without Internet?
2:21 Questions and Answers
3:44 What If You Sell Your House?
4:25 More Questions and Answers
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Do you still have questions?
This is a very thorough review! Thank you.
Great review. Thank you. I was vascillating between the Orbit and the Rachio, and while the orbit seems to have more tech, I don't think the extra tech is necessary. It's an irrigation timer for heavens sake. The only real concern with the previous gen non-smart controllers is that they would water through a rain storm and water on days there are freeze warnings, and that we couldn't adjust watering cycles when we were travelling and the weather changed.
Very good video. Now we have variable weather in Florida does it check rain reports from local sources if it raining such as Wunderground? Thanks!
Here's their official explanation on how it works: "We combine data from national weather stations, more than 270,000 personal weather stations, satellite data, radar data, and more to provide hyperlocal forecasting that’s accurate to the location of your controller."
If you go with the hyperlocal option, it uses a combination of NOAA, Wunderground and other sources. Or you can go with a single Wunderground station.
I am contemplating purchasing 2 Rachios: a 16 for my basement and a 4 or 6 for my detached garage. We have a 2/3 acre property. I have a Netgear Orbi with one satellite that is supposed to work for a 5,000 sq ft house, which is half that size. Will the Wi-Fi signal reach my detached garage?
how many start times does the 16 zone rachio 3 have?
Hi there, at 6:55 you mentioned that your mesh wifi system hasn't given you problems when connecting to Rachio, what mesh do you happen to have, by the way?
Thanks for the video, very helpful!
Technically I just have a wireless extender from TP-Link in the garage (TP-Link N300). My main router is the TP-Link Wifi 6 AX1500, so not a true mesh system but it seems to work well. There are other extenders (like this one geni.us/5RqB) that "should" work with anything (mesh or not). Hope this helps!
Very informative, does it support Wifi 5.x or only works on 2.x? Also is there is a battery backup?
Is supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. 802.11n. The only battery it has is one to keep time if the power goes out.
Enjoyed watching your videos. Two questions. If I set it to water every day, twice a week, or once a week, will it automatically know how to water the right amount? Next, if I want to increase or decrease the watering by a certain percentage, is there a way to achieve that for any zone? Thanks in advance.
Yes to both.
I’m not really sure how to ask this question, but here it goes. Is there some kind of soil moisture meter that will sense when the soil is too dry, then trigger a watering based on that?
Yes, they sell soil sensors
Great Video. Related to adjusting to weather, I understand that it will skip when it rains. Does it adjust the amount of time that it waters based on temperature? For example, if it's 70F one week and 90F the next, how does it compensate for that?
It depends on what level of control you want. It can be a fixed schedule with no variability all the way to totally controlled by the environmental settings and weather.
But this is not a review, this is a Q & A
what happens if the power goes out for an extended amiunt of time?
Great video. Well done. What's the difference between the Rachio 3 and 3e?
It looks like the 3e doesn't have Weather Intelligence Plus (just the standard version), it's not compatible with the Wireless Flow Meter, and it's limited to 8 zones.
@@TopHomeowner Thank you
Does it have a pump option? One of my valve clusters feeds from a valve so that they are not under pressure unless the sprinklers are on... so I need the "pump" option so that the supply solenoid and the actual zone turn on simultaneously.
It looks like it supports pumps, however it seems to depend on your specific situation. I found this article and video from Rachio that should help: support.rachio.com/en_us/water-pumps-and-pump-relays-B1iiDLJKD
Do you need a specific sprinkler to be installed? I know the controller can be replaced with this but the sprinkler itself, does it have to have something for it to use all features such as the soil detection?
It should work fine with just about any sprinkler system. As for the soil sensors, it's only compatible with a couple from Toro and Rain Bird
Will this timer allow me to run a zone two days on with one day off and then repeat this schedule indefinitely? I am having trouble with other brands that won't allow me to create this schedule.
With a manual schedule it looks like you can choose specific days, every other day, every day, skip a number of days, but nothing I can see will let you do two days on and one off. I would have thought that would be an option.
How do I program the controller, the builder installed the system. Please show a closeup of programing at the unit
You need to use the app on your smartphone in order to program it. You can only start/stop and skip zones from the controller itself.
Fascinating. My weather app will say it’s raining outside and we got a sprinkling or misting. That’s Florida for ya, might be pouring 1 mile down. I’m not trusting this part of it
Does the device have a category cable port? Or does it only operate from Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi only
CONS: Big pros and cons for this system: the biggest pro is using IFTTT - or conditional settings in apple (using eve app & Eve Degree controller). Biggest con is that Flex daily - the only 1-of-3 options that uses daily weather data - does not accommodate raised beds, Potted tress or any Water Drip applications. Tied for the Biggest con is that there is no Heat-Wave run options! Rachio has rain-skip, freeze-skip options but NO start-water-run option if there's a heat wave. If the outside temp breaks 100 I use Eve Degree to add a run and protect my plants. In summary: Rachio 3 is mainly a lawn-loving system. It may do what a lot of consumers expect or want.
Hello
Q: Does it require a rain sensor to operate?
It actually gets it's data through the internet, so it will make adjustments without a sensor.
I had a question so I called rachio to get the answer. When they say eight zones can it control a master valve in addition to the eight zones? The answer is yes. So really it can control 9 irrigation valves. The same goes for the 16 zone system. It can control the 17th master valve.
Thanks for the info!
Thank you for this review. I've been looking into new sprinkler controllers for some time now. The sprinkler controller at my house is very old and only my dad knew how to use it. Since my dad passed, it's been a struggle watering our lawn and it's been getting dry. Is there a way to figure out the watering zones? I was just going to do a trail and error method but I would like to know if there is an easier way to figure it out.
Trial and error is the only way I know. We basically just drew a rough map on a piece of paper, turned on each zone with the old controller and drew where each sprinkler head was to document the different zones. It made the process pretty simple when we set up the new one in the app. Hope this helps!
does this device integrate with homekit?
Yes, it's compatible with homekit
Are there any fees to use the app? I know that Orbit has fees to access the smart features.
There are no monthly fees with rachio. So even though they are a little more expensive up front, no subscription makes up for it.
@@TopHomeowner Thanks for the quick response and follow up. Your review was very helpful as I was on the fence between Orbit and Rachio. I purchased the Rachio. Thanks again :)
My Rainbird system is direct wired, there is no electrical outlet nearby. I don't see a way to direct wire this, is that correct?
From what I can tell, you are right. There is no way to direct wire it.
@@TopHomeowner I contacted Rachio and you can not direct wire the unit. They also said NOT to use a household transformer. So I had to install an outlet to the direct wires so I could plug it in.
Thanks for confirming. That stinks that you had to go through the trouble of installing an outlet just for that! Hopefully they'll change the design for future models.
@@TopHomeowner There is an outdoor enclosure that you can direct wire and you put the controller in the enclosure as a solution for direct wiring.
@@kerwinfrancis7352 There is, but I do not have power available to any convenient outdoor location. That would be more time, trouble and expense than to just extend the existing direct wiring and install an outlet. Plus, you have to purchase the outdoor enclosure separately.
Hello sir. Can the Rachio system (or any I lawn sprinkler system) be connected to your outside hose bib and ran that way vs. having a master plumber come in and install the pipes/backflow system and pull permit, etc? Our county needs a permit if this is done and I think if I had a new system connected to the outside hose bib then this by passes all that need :) Thanks!
Can not have a sprinkler system hooked up to city/drinking water with out a backflow device. Also won’t have the water pressure to pop up multiple heads from the hose bib
Will this work with Google Assistant? Can I ask Google to Run, Stop, Turn Off, Cancel Watering, etc?
Yes, Google Assistant and Rachio will work together
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Was running fine until they decided on a software update.Brick my controller Rachio claims it happens with certain phones . I wouldnt buy it again . My water company was pushing discounts . Ruined my lawn for this season . I started noticing my lawn turning brown . Shop around .
So, the title of this video is somewhat misleading, isn't it? It's not so much a 1 year review as it answers viewers questions from your earlier review.
I was kinda expecting to see things like how you might have changed your watering schedule based on how your lawn was reacting to it...maybe how you might have changed the soil type after a bit of research on what's actually on your lot...things like that.
It seemed to me that your 1 year review consisted of your statement in the beginning where you said, after one year, you'd buy it again. (And, OK...the bit about your water leak detection would be part of the one year review, too).
Overall, a good video, though.
I appreciate the feedback. I'll make adjustments to how I do these in the future.
I can tell you that I have been using my Rachio now for 4 months. I live in south-central Texas, near Austin. We have extremely hot summers and mild winters. There's not a lot of rainfall generally, so it pretty much runs on the schedule I set without variation. This has kept my lawn nice and green for the past 4 months without me ever having to go back and manually alter the settings. The only time I did so was when no rain was predicted on a watering day but the ground was still pretty wet from a downpour about 4 days previously. It will email you (or maybe text, I forget) the day before a cycle is to run and give you the option to skip it, so I did skip it that once.
We are always on water restrictions and my only 2 days a week I can water are Sundays and Thursdays. It may be because we are part of a very large metropolitan area, but the weather predictions recorded by the Rachio are always spot-on. It will let you know "Due to predicted freezing temperature, this day's cycle will be skipped" and give you the option to override it. One day it said "Although rain was predicted in your area, actual reported rainfall was only .02 inches, so your system will run as scheduled.
The thing is amazing. I always fought with the old manually programmed Rainbird system, and I never had to adjust anything with the Rachio in 4 months. It even reduced the amount of watering time per zone due to the start of the fall, and again the start of the winter seasons. Grass still looks good!
@@thomasking9221 great input Austin. Appreciation from San Antonio.
Yea that is not how a mesh network acts, and it should absolutely have zero effect on connectivity for your smart controller
Major complaint: these Rachio morons made this thing indoor install. Ridiculous. 90% of sprinkler controllers that this will be replacing is outdoors. The giant ac adapter is not waterproof nor is the casing. I was so disappointed after setting it up and realizing that I had to spend another $53 for the enclosure and deal with installing that along with an ac plug pigtail and a strain plug. Ridiculous. My other home has the Orbit Bhyve xr8 that is fully waterproof whiteout the headache of add-ones. Just as good and the app is even easier to use.
I think this is a terrible controller and your review is either misleading or you’re not paying attention.
When my installer said this was part of my system I watched your video and was excited. Now I feel deceived.
The Rachio uses an obtuse system of tracking how much water of the water you’re willing to lose you haven’t lost yet. Confusing? Yeah! Why don’t you explain how you set ‘depletion levels’ or how much water you’re willing to lose as a percent of ‘field capacity’? And then how it doesn’t measure that, it measures what percent of the amount you could lose you have lost. So if it shows 38% is your current state and your zone can lose 50% you actually have 69% of the full capacity not 38%. Because you’re 38% of the way to 50% which is 69%. The online Q&A (there is no manual!) actually brags that it’s measuring a ‘percent of a percent’ as if any non-statistician would want that. (I’m a real life statistician and I would never in a million years measure percents of percents.) But if you change your depletion to 60% (wait, does a higher depletion mean I can lose up to 60% of the capacity or only down to 60% of capacity? Yeah I’m confused too) then the current capacity will adjust because you’re no longer at 38% you’re at 23%.
You really think that’s easily understandable?! Or you didn’t even know that’s what those percents meant. I’ll bet you just set it to the factory levels and left it and have no idea what it is or isn’t doing.
As I said, my installer uses the Rachio 3 with his package. I’m ready to trash it and buy anything else. It might be, no it really is, the worst piece of tech in my home. I would give it 0 stars out of 10 because it fails at its most basic task: telling me how much water is actually in my lawn.
PS: did you notice that, in calculating evaporation to determine when it should water next, the most daily sunlight the Rachio uses is 8 hours per day? So if you get 12-14 hours a day it’s grossly underestimating evaporation. If it’s not then when you get only get 8 hours it’s overestimating evaporation.